Details
Ten years in the planning and with contributions by 27 expert authors, this is a comprehensive record of archaeological research at Chedworth Roman Villa, Gloucestershire (now in the care of the National Trust), from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries.
The volume brings together a large body of new, contextualised information about the villa including: a history of work at Chedworth from the 1860s to the present; a detailed fabric survey of the extant remains; description and analysis of the Roman structural remains; description and analysis of the decorative elements (e.g. mosaics, sculpture) and finds (e.g. coins, Roman artefacts, glass, pottery and bones); discussion of the development of the villa and its place in the landscape; the consolidation and display of the villa from its discovery in 1864 to the present. The volume is well illustrated with drawings and photos ranging in date from the late 1800s to the present.
The volume will appeal to all with an interest in Roman Britain, and Roman villas in particular, and in the antiquarians who first discovered and investigated them.
The volume brings together a large body of new, contextualised information about the villa including: a history of work at Chedworth from the 1860s to the present; a detailed fabric survey of the extant remains; description and analysis of the Roman structural remains; description and analysis of the decorative elements (e.g. mosaics, sculpture) and finds (e.g. coins, Roman artefacts, glass, pottery and bones); discussion of the development of the villa and its place in the landscape; the consolidation and display of the villa from its discovery in 1864 to the present. The volume is well illustrated with drawings and photos ranging in date from the late 1800s to the present.
The volume will appeal to all with an interest in Roman Britain, and Roman villas in particular, and in the antiquarians who first discovered and investigated them.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1. A HISTORY OF WORK AT AND PUBLICATION ON CHEDWORTH
1864: The Villa Uncovered
1864–1924: Conservation and Publication
1924–57: The Early National Trust Years
1957–65: Sir Ian Richmond
1966–2010: Targeting Problems
CHAPTER 2. FABRIC SURVEY AND ANALYSIS (Jason Wood)
Introduction
Description and Analysis
South range
West range
West baths
Room 17: nymphaeum
North baths and north range
Cross gallery
Discussion
Roman
Victorian
First half of twentieth century
Second half of twentieth century
CHAPTER 3. THE ROMAN STRUCTURAL REMAINS
Introduction
The South Range
The West Range
The Nymphaeum (Room 17)
The North Range
The Cross Gallery
The Areas Around the Main Villa Buildings
Water Management
Appendix
Excavations at Chedworth Roman Villa, 1977 (Ron Shoesmith and Tim Copeland)
Excavations at Chedworth Roman Villa by the University of Sheffield 2000–2002 (Maureen Carroll)
CHAPTER 4. THE DECORATIVE ELEMENTS AND FINDS
Introduction
The Mosaics (S.R. Cosh)
The Sculptured Stone (Martin Henig)
The Architectural Stone (Kevin Hayward)
The Marble (Susan Walker)
Plaster and Mortar (Emma Durham with J.R.L. Allen)
Ceramic Building Material (Peter Warry)
The Worked Flint (Richard Bradley)
Roman Small Finds (Emma Durham with Martin Henig)
Post-Roman Finds (Emma Durham)
The Vessel Glass (Emma Durham)
The Window Glass (Emma Durham)
Reports Prepared by Wessex Archaeology
The coins (Nicholas Cooke)
Metalwork (Grace Perpetua Jones with Phil Andrews and Martin Henig)
Worked bone (Lorraine Mepham)
Shale/jet (Lorraine Mepham)
Glass (Lorraine Mepham)
Pottery (Rachael Seager Smith)
Ceramic building material (Rachael Seager Smith)
Animal bone (R. Billson)
Overview of the Coins (Simon Esmonde Cleary)
Overview of the Small Finds (Emma Durham)
Overview of the Pottery (Jane Timby with Joanna Bird)
The Infant Burials (Anna Rohnbogner)
Overview of the Animal Remains (Claire Ingrem)
CHAPTER 5. CHEDWORTH ROMAN VILLA
Pre-Roman Activity
The Origins and Structural Development of the Villa
The ‘Developed Villa’
Decline and Fall: The End of the Villa and After
CHAPTER 6. CHEDWORTH, THE COTSWOLDS AND VILLA CULTURE
Landscapes of Production and Prestige
Chedworth and Villas in the Locality
Chedworth and Rich Villas in the Cotswolds and Britain
Chedworth and Late Roman Aristocratic Behaviour
CHAPTER 7. REIMAGINING THE VILLA SINCE 1864
Farrer, Eldon and the Consolidation and Display of the Villa 1864–1870
Landscape Management 1864–2010 (Rupert Goulding)
Torpor to the Trust: the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
After World War II: Half a Century of Exploration and Presentation
Reconstructions of the Villa
The Development of the Heritage Lottery Fund Bids and the New Cover-Building, 1994–2012 (Julie Reynolds)
‘The Honoured Guest’: Interpreting the Chedworth Roman Villa to Modern Visitors (Peter Salway)
Bibliography
Index
Reviews & Quotes
"[T]he volume is coherently structured and contains helpful lists of figures and tables, as well as a comprehensive index."
Dr Alan Tyler
Transactions (Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc
(12/06/2023)
